Despite appearances to the contrary, given that we home educate, I’m not actually anti school per se. I’m just not sure I can see the point of it. And I think that there are an awful lot of ppl with similar sneaky suspicions out there, who are using school and just wondering if…
So let’s break it down. School was designed on a factory model, in an industrial age. It took children in to keep them out of dangerous working conditions and equip them with basic skills, mainly so that they would be more productive factory workers.
The ppl who were destined to be the factory owners never went to those schools. Home education, I believe, is in some ways a by product of that exclusion – the clause was left in the law to allow the rich and powerful to continue educating their children as they saw fit with tutors and round the world trips.
So, you have a factory line model – take all the children in at one age, feed them all the same information, chuck them out at the other end. And no amount of tweaking, or individual progress plans, or special educational plans is going to get around the fact that this model just doesn’t work. Not for lots of children.
I’ve had conversations on twitter with ppl wondering how to help their gifted children who are bored in the school environment. They are going to be bored. It’s the way it is. Even if your school is the most flexible school in the world, the teaching model is still the basic sit down and listen to what I have to say, and with the greatest of respect for teachers, many of whom really do believe in what they are doing, sit down and listen isn’t a good style of learning.
Gifted children need to be able to follow their interests, and stretch their minds. Your gifted child could well be more gifted than the teacher they are faced with, and pushing at that teacher’s boundaries. My gifted child at home is doing that to me – but when it comes down to it, I find him the tools and step back. And it works, it really works.
I’ve had other conversations with ppl worrying about their children with special needs. School is equally bad at coping with those children. Those children need family environments, to learn from their parents and siblings, because that is how children are set up to learn. And time off for the parents is a different issue, one that society should be handling differently, not by expecting parents to shove their children in to school.
I saw a tweet yesterday that said something like I get really annoyed with ppl who say homeschooling(sic) is the answer to all problems, it isn’t for everyone. And I thought about that for a while. Home education as we call it in this country does present a lot of practical difficulties, not least the fact that one parent has to be at home and therefore not holding down a traditional 9 – 5 job. Makes it tough. But it can be done. And, again with the greatest respect, let’s turn it around.
What does school add to society? I keep being told children have to go to school to socialise, but that’s a complete red herring. Where else do you spend your day with just ppl the same age as yourself, from the same social background and living area? Nowhere, basically. So what transferable social skills are children learning from that? Um, none.
Is it important to be able to listen and follow instructions? Yes, sometimes, but it’s way more important to be able to figure things out for yourself. A varied education does that for you.
I think that the problem is our style of school tbh. I think there are other models that would work better, but it would require a brave, brave society who would make the change. You can’t just tweak it a little and hope it would work.
Montessori has a lot going for it, with truly child-led education, and mixed age learning groups. The directress doesn’t teach, she demonstrates, and it doesn’t depend on her own educational background for success, as long as she is following the methods correctly. That’s the flaw in Montessori tbh, it’s easy for it to fall down, if ppl don’t just follow the method.
So what I’d really like to see is schools as resource centres. Places equipped with books, computers, labs, gyms and with a list of experts that you could book time with. Not teachers, as you wouldn’t need teachers. I’d like them to be open to ppl of all ages who actually want to learn, and open pretty much round the clock to make them as flexible as society needs to be.
Think about it – as an adult, has there been anything you’ve needed to learn? Did it take you very long? I’m a programmer – my first computer language took me a year to learn at university. (Discounting the stuff I taught myself way back when, I was never expert then.) Once I got into the world of work, we were given training courses that lasted a week, and took us a lot further into the language. University was no more efficient than school. When you want/ need to learn something, you do it fast.
I’d like to see community resource centres that offered ppl the stuff they want and need. I’d like to see families clubbing together to look after children and offer education, like I see with the historyetc and latinetc days my home educating friends put on. I’d like to see skill shares going on more commonly, and communities actually working together.
School is often held up as being a centre of the community – I don’t see that. It’s very exclusive – Big has noticed that children at her guides/swimming/whatever tend to stick just with the children from their own school. So if you don’t go to one of those, you get left out. Great social skills being learnt there then 🙁 Have you *ever* popped in to a school fayre for a school that no one in your family used? Thought not. Really bringing the community together there then.
I’ve lots more I could say on this topic, and I probably will. But before I ramble on, I’d like to know what you think. Step out of your comfort zone, just for a second, and imagine if it schools could be different. Could be better. What would they look like? And what would society look like as a result?
If you want to read more about this sort of thing, I’d recommend starting with Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
Lots for me to think about here, maybe not for now, but for the future indeed.
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@theMadHouse hope it was helpful – you know where I am if you ever want to chat 🙂
Preaching to the choir here. 🙂
though I DO think the both of us could write loads on working families and trying to educate children. For the average people with two working parents, immediate problems they’re trying to solve, homeschooling really does look impossible. it’s too much change, too much a paradigm shift, all at once.
Really, I think a lot of people don’t want to admit that school functions as child care.
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@Andrea yeah, I know quite a lot of my readers know this stuff already. But I think/ hope there’s quite a few out there who don’t, and it would be good to open lines of discussion.
I’d love to read more about how you make the working thing work 🙂
wonderful post, I don’t think I’ve really got much to add. I resent our taxes being used t pay for the current shambles, would love to see educational resources for all to use too.
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I must say, as a mother who cares a great deal for her childrens education, and sees the system failing many who dont fall into the ideal, your vision of community based centres sounds fantastic.
What would happen though, for the children whose parents cared little for their education (or them) who, without the current laws pertaining to enforced education, would simply receive none at all?
A very informative post – ive learnt something new today!
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@BumbleBecki – what happens to the families where they don’t care? Sadly pretty much the same as happens now. Without the encouragement and support of the parents at home, kids in school tend not to thrive. If your parents only look on school as a place to send you to be kept an eye on all day, then that’s how you look at it. Some buck the trend and do thrive, and they are the ones that would thrive left alone with access to the library or one of Jax’s proposed access centres. What’s *really* needed is a total from the ground up change in attitudes towards our children. Once we get the country into a mindset of children being our wealth and a privelege then maybe they will be treated as they deserve.
Oh T-bird, i love your response.
Its a horror and a shame that anyone can have a child and treat him or her like an inconvinience and a burden.
A child is a brand new miracle every single day, why cant everybody see that?
Sigh.
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It cannot be said too often. School works only too well. It keeps everyone in their place. But it doesn’t work for the individual child’s good.
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We currently have our children in school, but I agree with your post 100%. As a former homeschooler, I know *exactly* where our school is going to let our children down, and have to prepare for that eventuality. We tried everything to avoid this fate, but it is ours for now. If I could figure out a way to get back home & get them back home, I’d do it in a New York minute.
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I think I’m probably brewing a blog post about what would happen if we took the compulsion out of schooling. Like you suggest, I find the idea a bit disturbing, but I’m not sure why. I’m quite happy to take MY children out of the system, but I’m not sure about everyone else… 😛
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Hi, I would agree with the article totally.
I have been home-educating my son for about two years or should I say that he’s been home-educating me? 🙂
He wants to become a mechanic when he’s old enough and at every opportunity reads up on cars and watches relevant programmes and has learnt a lot through this. He has also written many short stories and is gifted at this also. Both things he would not have learnt if at school.
He is very well adjusted, mixes with society as a whole and I would say not missing out on anything.
I would agree with the article that children and adults learn best when they are interested in something and not when forced too. And given the tools and the chance to think problems through for themselves with help if necessary, will become far more confident, capable individuals as adults.
School can be used as a day centre. There is no doubt that adults can see it as a break when there child is at school and although this is probably normal and nothing wrong with that, however if the child is not learning much or not reaching their full potential is it the right thing to do?
I respect parents who put their child to school and their child is happy and thriving, but what if your child is not, is it right to have them continue in a bad situation just to make life easier for ourselves and “fit into the norm”.
Everyone is unique and what suits one doesn’t always suit the other. Also, I think we are learning all throughout our lives, we are very arrogant if we think we know it all, because we don’t.
I enjoyed the article and think that its good to see things from a different perspective. We should all open our minds to doing things differently. Different is not always bad.
Were school the happiest days of your life? Not mine I’m afraid, I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring to get home and get out of my uniform and be “me” again and not some clone, trying desperately to “fit in” with others expectations of me. I have learnt a lot more since leaving school and continue too. Life is a whole learning process in my opinion.
I welcome this article and many more like it. 🙂
Much of the response from schoolers to this sort of information focusses on the lack of option to home ed, the lack of confidence, the lack of something that prevents people from taking this (better?) path.
My kids adore school. They are high achievers and even though their experiences haven’t always been 100% brilliant and positive, they love it. I wonder if their enthusiasm stems from my own, because I too absolutely loved school. For all it’s fabness and crapness I still get a warm squirmy feeling when I think back to my school days. My OH is now head of English in my old school, the same one my 15yo and 13yo go to…. I get to extend my relationship with my school for ever (well until he retires!). I remember school as warm and damp and infuriating and inspiring and belonging and rebelling… oh I loved the independence, even at 5, walking there on my own, seeing and saying and tackling things my Mum knew nothing of. When people talk of the socialising that kids get from school I don’t see it as forcing children into unnatural groups restricted by age… my 5yo has been at school for a matter of weeks and meets and greets and plays with children in and out of school from age 3 to 11 – friends he’s made all by himself. He loves being at home, but I suspect he’s humouring me, because in the next breathe he tells me he REALLY loves school 🙂
I’ve always been a member of home ed forums and through them I’ve pretty much been prepared that there would come a day when school was no longer appropriate or best, but it never did. One of the things I found (and I’m sorry if this is a generalisation)… actually one of the things I DIDN’T find, were many home educating parents who had a positive experience of school themselves, which is why I wonder what influence my positive experience has had on my children’s positive experience iykwim?
Sorry for hi-jacking the comments, I could waffle on forever at how the 19th century model is being chipped away at in education, how formal assessment is undergoing massive changes, driven by inspired teachers… but I digress 🙂
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I’ve always thought school would work better if it was entirely voluntary. I was surprised at sixth form college, that there were so many kids there who apparently didn’t want to be – I couldn’t work it out at all – and even more so at Uni.
Now I have to confess, I was very conscientious through school, and worked way harder at everything than I could have or should have – looking back, I often wonder why I bothered, except that I wanted to do my best. As a pupil who wants to succeed, its annoying to be surrounded by those that do the minimum and can’t really be bothered. And its definitely not cool to be academic, even within academic circles (such as school)
I try not to be anti school, but at best its a huge waste of time. Thankfully my eldest daughter’s recent request to attend school has not been renewed…because if she really wants to go, I’d have to let her, but I really don’t think its for the best.
I’m a former homeschooler and I totally agree with your post. I really like your idea of community resource centres and the only thing I would add to having centres like that is that children, even from quite a young age, should be involved in work worth doing, perhaps learning through useful work/activities.
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I’ve been a member of many Home Ed forums overs the years as I investigated the practicality and desirability of doing it, and I’ve never understood the Home Edding deep seated desire to change schools. One Yahoo group was particularly aggressive if you even hinted there was a smidgeon of anything at all even slightly positive about schools or teachers! (them was scary peeps).
For the majority school is the preferred method, warts and all for us it works. My three children absolutely love school, from my 15yo down to my 5yo, they adore it. I loved school, so much so I could barely drag myself away after my 6th year exams! My little one’s friends range in age from 3 to 11, friends he’s made all by himself. My teenagers are involved in community youth work through their school, both are moderately high achievers and despite a few bumps along the way would be devastated if we moved school let alone removed them altogether. They have friends from all 4 secondary schools in town, particularly my sk8er boi, helped much by overlapping catchment areas. Our primary school is very much the centre of our community. I’ve even been to school fayres in other villages, fund-raising parents are the same wherever you go and little ones like a bit of face paint 🙂
I fully support Home Edders choice to educate their children otherwise…. I just wish they wouldn’t colour my choice bad. You may start off saying “I’m not anti school” but there’s a huge BUT after that as you go on to discuss things you don’t like about school and how you’d change it. It doesn’t seem to occur to many home edders that a LOT of us actually like it the way it is. We’re not all using school because of some failure to understand a better alternative. I could waffle on at how the 19th century model is being chipped away at in education, how formal assessment is undergoing massive changes, driven by inspired teachers… we’re at a particularly challenging and exciting place in Scottish education at the moment… but I digress 🙂
I know you are a home educating family, I enjoy reading about the positive experiences of it and I learn things, I do. As parents we all home educate, I just get to be dead lazy at it 🙂 Sometimes though I get the urge to stand up for the formal education I go so much from, my kids get so much from, my OH gives so much to and my DD aspires to give to.
.-= Nikkii´s last blog ..It’s beginning to smell a lot like… =-.
Hi Nikkii, thanks for dropping by to comment.
What I suppose I was thinking was that we don’t home educate because of negative school experiences, so I’m not anti-school in a bitter and twisted way, iyswim 😉
That said, yes, many home educators do kind of wish we could change the education system. I suppose it’s because many of us have seen it from both sides, and looking in, we can see some bits that just need that little bit of tweaking…
And I find education and learning fascinating topics for discussion!
I do think the school system needs changes. I think that it bolsters up far too much in society that is not good for us. Which isn’t to say that some children aren’t fine there – I’m sure some are, particularly if their family is supportive and, as you say, home educates to some extent as well. But there are an awful lot of children who don’t do well there, and while my kids aren’t in the school with them, they will be in the world with them, and as such, I still feel we have a vested interest in school and education.
Does that make any sense?
Jax, have you read about the Dalton plan? I’d never heard about it but it was in a book I was reading a couple of months ago. Sounds pretty similar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Plan
@Kirsty, no I haven’t. I’ll look it up, thanks for the tip.
Hello Everyone. I am a new mother with a ten-month old based in Kolkata, India and I decided to send my little one to school already. That is shocking for many of you and many people here as well. I have even come across elders who have said things like ‘why do you people even produce children if you cannot handle them’. To be honest, homeschooling is not a very prevalent concept in urban India. However, I want put forth different viewpoints forward which are culturally different from those above, yet parenting and educating children is a universal thing.
1. The concept of school in India dates back more than 1000 years, way before the Industrial Revolution in Europe. This concept is not as we see it today. Indian schools presently are modeled on the British school system with various permutations to it. The older concept was actually where students left their homes to stay at a school/Gurukul and the teachers were of a different calibre or realisation altogether. The idea was not to be trained as a teacher but to have through life experiences reached a state of creative consciousness where he/she can nurture the young mind, provide all facilities for learning, and guide the student to his/her true potential. In such schools, pupils had the choice of learning 64 arts and sciences, as many as their mind allowed them to absorb.
Unfortunately, this system is not practised anymore.
In terms of socialisation, in this city I have to say that even at my age many activities, groups, classes we do are with people around the same age and this continues for a while. The social structure is very much like that here. Ofcourse there is inter-age activity as well, but right from toddler years till mid forties people are doing most activities in their own age group.
In terms of allowing your child to grow freely – culturally we have joint families here where five other people have different opinions and influences on how your child should be brought up and they all think it is their birthright to interfere, so it is not 100 % the mother’s choice in terms of upbringing.
I am very happy with my choice of sending my 10 month old son to playschool as a lot of the school’s thinking is based on free learning and allowing the child to explore his own natural way. Ofcourse children get influenced by others; teachers have their own limitations but so do parents. And most importantly, when a mother feels instictively happy about the way her child is developing in front of her eyes, she knows things are right. This feeling and decision is different for every parent in every different situation and country. There are things he picks up in school and there are things we explore together at home. It does not mean that I will not be imparting knowledge, education, and awareness to my son. But, for me it is important in this cultural setup that he is independant, strong, someone who can respect a system and grow up to understand its benefits as well as its flaws through a deeper intelligence that he will learn from his learning and training at home.
The school I am sending my son to is allowing me to challenge them if I do not feel right about something, the rest remains to be seen, and I am sure I will face many hurdles and challenges in the future.
I just wanted to share from a different perspective.
Vidhi
One of the most interesting posts I have come across since blogging – and the comments are just as insightful.
I will raise my hand to say that the school system has not failed my children. I could argue it did not fail me and my siblings. However, on that front, I believe we got through more because of the support and drive of our parents.
When I worked in school as support and life coach for young people, one area which did really concern me though was the seeming ��inclusion at all cost��. I remember being dreadfully worried not for the gifted (or indeed the non-academically gifted) but what I term ��the silent majority��. The ones who get left behind as they are ��doing okay��. In world statistics, the question is often asked why we are not spawning the brightest and the best in these self-imposed gradings.
Maybe it is time to look at a different way.
I can see your point, but not sure I agree that it’s all so black and white. My older son has autism, and alas, no friends of his age, if he stayed at home, his world would have been very limited, so for us the socialising aspect is very important. I wish they challenged him more academically, as he is smart, and could learn much more. He also compartmentalizes a lot, so what he agrees to do at school, he doesn’t want to do at home. I know I am not talking about the mainstream child, just saying that for us the school works. And personally I had a splendid education at school, even if I didn’t like it much (hasten to add it wasn’t in the UK).
I’m familiar with autistic spectrum, and I know many home educated children on the spectrum. Making friends can be just as difficult in school as out, or sometimes more so. This post can’t cover all eventualities, it’s over 1000 words long as it is. My point is that the system overall isn’t working and I’d love to see some imagination applied to solving some of the problems.
Very interesting post: I’ve never read about home education from this perspective before, and it does make a lot of sense! The problem is that I’m not sure that every family is equipped to provide home education, perhaps it might not work for either parent. Some parents have a wide range of difficulties that mean they may find impossible to home educate on top of all the other demands of modern living, while some might find it too stressful. That last could be me 🙂
I suppose what I’d like to see is more of a community approach to child rearing and education. Cooperatives. Free schools in the style of Sudbury Valley in the states rather than Michael Gove’s twisted vision. I think I might write a new post actually.